In data storage devices, such as magnetic disc drives and optical disc drives, it is common for a head to be positioned over a rotating disc to retrieve and/or store information on the disc. Typically, the head floats upon a thin layer of air that moves with the surface of the disc. Because this thin layer of air tends to lift the head away from the disc, a delicate suspension assembly is used to position the head over the disc and to keep the head a fixed distance from the disc. The suspension assembly is connected to a fixture having at least one track accessing arm that pivots to move the head across the radius of the disc.
The suspension assembly includes an actuator arm, a gimbal, and a slider. The slider carries the heads which are either deposited on or bonded to the slider. The gimbal is connected directly to the slider and allows the slider to pitch and roll with variations in the surface of the disc. The gimbal is also connected to the actuator arm, which includes a flexible region and a mounting region. The flexible region is between the mounting region and the gimbal, and is designed to lightly press the head toward the disc to oppose the lift produced by the movement of air under the head. The mounting region provides a mounting surface for mounting the suspension assembly to the actuator arm and is reinforced by a baseplate that is welded to the mounting region opposite the mounting surface.
To mount the suspension assembly to the fixture, the assembly must be grasped by a tool. A worker cannot install the suspension assembly with their hands because the space near the fixture is too limited.
In the prior art, tweezers were typically used to grasp the mounting region of the actuator arm. However, since these tweezers required an operator to exert a positive force on the tweezers, it was common for operators to experience muscle fatigue. In addition, since the connection to the fixture is made by pressing the mounting surface of the actuator arm against the fixture, and the tweezers typically were gripping this mounting surface, the tweezers interfered with the mounting process.
The present invention addresses these and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.